՛՛The Newly Discovered Fortresses in the Liberated Territories of Artsakh՛՛, 2020

In 2016-2020, the “Pan-Armenian Fund for Financing Armenian Studies”, within the framework of the “Research of the liberated territories of Artsakh” program, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Public Relations of the Republic of Artsakh and led by the archaeologist Gagik Sargsyan, studied fortresses in the liberated territories of Artsakh (in Kashatagh, Karvachar, Hadrut, Martakert, Martakert region).

The expedition also included Artak Gnuni, an archaeologist, Levon Mkrtchyan, an employee of the Department of Monuments Protection of the RA of the non-profit organization "Historical and Cultural Reserves-Museums and Historical Environment Protection Service" and Bakur Karapetyan, a writer, publicist and president of the "Shushi" Foundation. Zohrab Erkoyan, editor of the “Meran” newspaper of the Kashatagh region, also immensely contributed to the work of the expedition.

Although many architectural and archaeological monuments of Artsakh have been sufficiently studied separately, a more complete and comprehensive study of the fortresses, especially with the latest methods, has not been carried out before. All available information (bibliography, travel notes, old maps, artifacts or data from individual researchers) was refined and identified during field work and using satellite images; new monuments were also discovered.

As a result, data were digitized on more than fifty castles and fortified settlements located in hard-to-reach and isolated venues and dating from the 1st millennium BC until the 17th-18th centuries. Their orthophotoplans, extracts and information databases were catalogued. In parallel with these works, three-dimensional models of these castles and their landscapes were also prepared, which are extremely important for those who will deal with these monuments in the future.The exhibition titled "The Newly Discovered Fortresses in the Liberated Territories of Artsakh" opened on February 3, 2020 in a hall adjacent to the Assembly Hall of the National Assembly and comprised reprints of 44 fortresses discovered in the Karvachar region. The main part of the pre-Christian and medieval fortresses is located in Kashatagh, and the rest - in the territories of Hadrut, Martakert and Karvachar regions.Exhibitions of posters about the fortresses part of the new discoveries were previously organized in Stepanakert and the regional centre of Kashatagh - Berdzor. On the posters, in addition to the text describing this monument, its photographs, the blueprint, coordinates, as well as photographs taken by drones were presented.